1. The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
A PowerPoint Training
Presentation
By Keith H. Cooper
"As much as 95% of quality related problems in the factory can be solved
with seven fundamental quantitative tools." - Kaoru Ishikawa
2. What are the Basic
Seven Tools of Quality?
• Fishbone Diagrams
• Histograms
• Pareto Analysis
• Flowcharts
• Scatter Plots
• Run Charts
• Control Charts
3. Where did the Basic
Seven come from?
Kaoru Ishikawa
• Known for “Democratizing Statistics”
• The Basic Seven Tools made statistical
analysis less complicated for the average
person
• Good Visual Aids make statistical and
quality control more comprehendible.
4. The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Fishbone Diagrams
• No statistics involved
• Maps out a process/problem
• Makes improvement easier
• Looks like a “Fish Skeleton”
5. Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Step 1 - Identify the Problem
• Step 2 - Draw “spine” and “bones”
Example: High Inventory Shrinkage at local Drug
Store
Shrinkage
6. Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Step 3 - Identify different areas where
problems may arise from
Ex. : High Inventory Shrinkage at local Drug Store
Shrinkage
employees
shoplifters
7. Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Step 4 - Identify what these specific
causes could be
Ex. : High Inventory Shrinkage at local Drug Store
Shrinkage
shoplifters
Anti-theft tags poorly designed
Expensive merchandise out
in the open
No security/ surveillance
8. Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Ex. : High Inventory Shrinkage at local Drug Store
Shrinkage
shoplifters
Anti-theft tags poorly designed
Expensive merchandise out in the open
No security/ surveillance
employees
attitude
new trainee
training
benefits practices
12. Constructing a Histogram
• Use range to estimate beginning
and end
• Calculate the width of each
column by dividing the range by
the number of columns
Range
# of Columns
= Width
16. Constructing a Histogram
How is this helpful to Acme?
• 2 slices of pizza most common order
placed
• Distribution of sales useful for
forecasting next Thursday’s late
night demand
If you were an Acme manager how
could you apply this information?
17. The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Pareto Analysis
• Very similar to Histograms
• Use of the 80/20 rule
• Use of percentages to show
importance
23. Acme Pizza Example
(Flowchart)
Window Take Customer Money?
(start) Order
Get Pizza
Lockup
Put More in
Oven 2 Pies
Available?
Time
to close?
Take to Customer
no
yes
no
yes
no
yes
24. How can we use the flowchart to
analyze improvement ideas from
the Histogram?
Window Take Customer Money?
(start) Order
Get Pizza
Lockup
Put More in
Oven 2 Pies
Available?
Time
to close?
Take to Customer
no
yes
no
yes
no
yes
25. Want some practice?
Make a flowchart for:
• Taking a shower
• Cooking dinner
• Driving a car
• Having a party
• Creating a Flowchart
Any other processes you can think of?
26. The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Scatter Plots
• 2 Dimensional X/Y plots
• Used to show relationship
between independent(x) and
dependent(y) variables
27. Acme Pizza
(Scatter Diagram)
Minutes Cooking Defective Pies
10 1
45 8
30 5
75 20
60 14
20 4
25 6
In this simple example, you can find the existing
relationship without much difficulty but…
29. Scatter Diagrams
As a quality tool
• What does this tell Acme
management about their
processes?
• Improvements?
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 20 40 60 80
Time Cooking (minutes)
30. The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Run charts
• Time-based (x-axis)
• Cyclical
• Look for patterns
31. Run Charts
8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4
PM- AM PM- AM PM- AM
Thursday
Week 1
Thursday
Week 2
Thursday
Week 3
Slices/hour
Time
32. The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Control Charts
• Deviation from Mean
• Upper and Lower Spec’s
• Range
34. Control Charts
Acme Pizza Management wants to get
in on the control chart action
•Average Diameter = 16 inches
•Upper Limit = 17 inches
•Lower Limit = 15 inches
36. Acme example #50
Control Charts
•Pies within specifications were
acceptable
•One abnormally small pie is
“uncommon”
•Should be examined for quality control
37. Summary
• Basic Seven Tools of Quality
• Measuring data
• Quality Analysis
• “Democratized statistics”
38. Bibliography
• Foster, Thomas. Managing Quality. An Integrative
Approach. Upper Saddle River : Prentice Hall,
2001.
• Stevenson, William. “Supercharging Your Pareto
Analysis.” Quality Progress October 2000:
51-55.
• “Dr Kaoru Ishikawa.” Internet
“http://www.dti.gov.uk/mbp/bpgt/m9ja00001/m9j
a0000110.html.” 16 February 2001.
• “Chemical and Process Engineering.” Internet.
“http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/spc/spc8.htm.” 17
February 2001.
